Belief / Faith

"But when they believed
Philip preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized," (Acts 8:12)

There are certain fundamental stages in the
process of conversion. First and foremost, is the
introduction of the Word of God into our minds.

The gospel, ( things concerning the Kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus Christ) is the key message in
the Bible. We must hear the gospel and understand
it.

Believe

The most critical element is faith in the gospel.
We must not only understand the words of the Kingdom
and the savior, but we must believe them with our
whole heart. "Without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." ( Hebrews 11:6)

Repentance

Faith alone is not enough. Our belief in the hope
of the gospel should be strong enough to lead us
to repentance. When we understand the Word of
God, we will recognize that we have failed to honor
God in our lives, and that we have often sinned
against His commandments. We will be overcome with a
desire to change our ways, and to learn how to be
pleasing unto our Heavenly Father. Eph. 4:22-24 tells
us:

"Put off concerning the former conversation
the old man, which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind; And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness."

Baptism

True repentance will lead us to obey the command
to "repent and be baptized" for the
forgiveness of our sins.

Baptism is a work of faith. It is also an
essential ceremony that has been provided so that we
can be buried with him in baptism and rise to newness
of life to become a member of the family of God, and
heirs according to the promises that were made to
Abraham. (see Romans 6:3-6, Galatians 3:26-29)

Baptism places us into covenant relation "in
Christ Jesus". This is a favored position in which we
are privileged to have Christ as our high priest and
mediator, at the right hand of the throne of God.

Bearing Fruit

Baptism is only a beginning. There is
responsibility associated with the covenant that we
have entered into. The parable of the sower
illustrates that the objective of the seed sown in an
honest heart is to bring forth fruit.

"He that received seed into the good ground is he
that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which
also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." ( Matt
13:23)

Faith is demonstrated and perfected in
actions. ( see James 2:18-26) The just must live
by their faith. (Rom 1:17) If we truly believe God we
will desire to please Him by doing His will even
after the example of His son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray that our obedience will lead to His grace
unto life eternal in the Kingdom.

Hope and Comfort from the
Scriptures

Faith Cometh by Hearing

The "Things Concerning the Kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus" is the gospel message. It is through
an understanding of and a belief in this
gospel that we have hope. The "name of Jesus"
is the only name under heaven through which we can be
saved.

None of the promised blessings of the gospel
through Jesus would be available to us if we had
never heard these things. We would never develop the
necessary faith if we were not familiar with
the Word of God.

It is for this reason that the Apostle Paul made
these observations. He stated:

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? and how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? and
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall
they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good
things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For
Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by
the word of God." ( Romans 10:13-17)

Man shall not live by Bread

Jesus told us that "man does not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God." ( Matt 4:4)

We feed on these words by reading and by
listening to those who have been

allowed to teach. Jesus intentionally placed the
Words of God on a par with our daily bread. The
natural bread sustains our natural body, and the Word
of God strengthens our spirit.

Job rightly considered the Word of God to be
more important than our daily food. He states:
" My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept,
and not declined. neither have I gone back from the
commandment of his lips;

I have esteemed the words of his mouth more
than my necessary food." (Job 23:11-12)

The example of Jesus

Jesus is our best example of a man who had made
the Word of God his daily bread. We are told
prophetically in the Psalms that he hid the word of
God in his heart to help him overcome the temptation
to sin. ( see Psalm 119:11)

He learned from the patience and comfort of the
scriptures to have hope. It was for the joy that he
knew was ahead in the Kingdom that he was able to
endure the cross and despise the shame. ( see Hebrews
12: 2)

Jesus had faith that came from the hearing
of the Word of God. His faith enabled him to
rely on the written word when he was tried ( see Matt
4: 1-11)

God's Word-The Key

If the Word of God sustained the faith of the son
of God in his greatest trials, we can benefit by his
example.

The Psalmist provides us with these beautiful
expressions of the blessings available through faith
by the word:

"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all
the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made
me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with
me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: -
-How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea,
sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy
precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every
false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a
light unto my path." (Psalm 119:97-105)

" For ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus."
Gal 3:26

The Master taught his disciples that they must
become as little children if they wanted to
enter the Kingdom. Children demonstrate both
humility and faith. They trust completely that
their parents will care for them.

It is interesting that when the Apostle Paul was
teaching the Galatians, he also mentioned becoming
"children of God by faith"

Our faith in Christ Jesus, demonstrated when we
are baptized into Christ, not only changes our family
relationship so that we become the children of God,
but it also establishes our right to an inheritance.
The entire quotation from Galatians 3 reads: "For
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise. ( verses 26-29)

The faith of Abraham

Abraham was a very faithful man. He is considered
to be the father of the faithful He demonstrated his
faith in God by first believing the promises, and
then by acting according to his faith.

His example of faith is described in these words
from Romans 4: "Who against hope believed in hope,
that he might become the father of many nations,
according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed
be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not
his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to
God;

And being fully persuaded that, what he had
promised, he was able also to perform.

And therefore it was imputed to him for
righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake
alone, that it was imputed to him;

But for us also, to whom it shall be
imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for
our offences, and was raised again for our
justification."

Without Faith it is impossible

Abraham was only one example of a faith that was
strong enough to manifest itself in action that was
pleasing to God. Hebrews 11 is called the faith
chapter because it describes a great number of
faithful servants of old who were able to please God
by demonstrating that they believed.

We are reminded in that chapter that "without
faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." ( verse
6)

Faith as Little children

Let us learn to be as little children with
complete faith and trust in God and His promises. We
all want to be pleasing to our Heavenly Father. We
are assured that we will please him, if we truly
believe that he really does exist, and if we seek him
diligently.

"For by grace are ye saved
through faith"Ephesians 2:8

There has always been a certain amount of
confusion concerning the subject of salvation and
faith. The above quotation from Ephesians is an
example of the problem. Some prefer to view these few
words as a complete exposition on the subject. In
their view, it is faith alone that saves.

We know however, that "all scripture has been
given by inspiration of God", and that any
interpretation of scripture must be consistent with
the whole council of God. We must reconcile other
testimony on the subject. Consider for example, the
words spoken by James who said: "In the same way,
faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
action, is dead." ( James 2:17 NIV)

How do we reconcile these statements that seem
contradictory? We must first accept the principle
that God is not the author of confusion, and that
there is consistency in His Word. The confusion is
ours.

Faith

Faith is defined as "the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen." ( Heb 11:1
NRSV) Faith is strong conviction that God will
perform all that He has promised, even when we have
no physical evidence of the fact.

Our faith today is based on the fulfillment of
Bible prophecy. History has unfolded in the exact
pattern predicted by the Words of God many years
ago.

If our belief in these promises of God is powerful
enough, we will act accordingly. Our lives
will be motivated by our belief and we will
demonstrate our faith through action.

THE WORK OF FAITH

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested,
offered up Isaac:" Heb 11:17

Faith therefore, is more than belief. It is belief
that has been made complete through action. It is
this complete or mature faith that is the key to
salvation.

When we read the words from Ephesians 2, we should
read the entire context. The full quotation is:

" For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift
of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For
we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance
for us to do." (verses 8-10 NIV)

The Apostle does not say that works are not
required. He is trying to tell us that we have no
right to boast in our actions. We are still expected
to "do good works".

The Work of Faith

Our work in the Lord's service is therefore the
work of faith. It is described in 1 Thess 1 as
"Your work of faith, and labour of love, and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the
sight of God and our Father."